He whakaahua tēnei o te matakite a te hoia o Te Arawa a Metara i pā mai ki a ia i ngā pakanga whenua o Niu Tireni i te tau 1869. I roto i tana moemoeā e hīkoi ana ia i tātahi mai i tōna kāinga i Maketū. Ka pae mai ki uta tētahi ika hāpuku nui he kanohi tangata kē tōna, ka mutu nō Metara taua kanohi. Ki a ia he tohu tēnei ka mate ia ki te pakanga i te rangi o muri mai. Ka hua a Metara, 'He tohu aituā tēnei, kua tukua mai e ngā atua he tohu mai i te wā kāinga. Ko au te mata-ika. Āpōpō ko au te ika i te ati.' (Māui Pōmare rāua ko James Cowan, Legends of the Maori. Ākarana: Southern Reprints, 1987 (tānga tuatahi 1930), wh. 169). Ko te mata-ika te tangata tuatahi kia patua i roto i te pakanga, ā, ko te mata hoki o te ika. Ko te meatanga tērā o tana kāpene ki a Kāpara Metara me takamuri, ā kia kaua e takamua ki te tira toro. Hāunga tērā ka haukotia te puku o te tauā ā ko Metara te tangata tuatahi ka pūhia. Heoi anō ka ora tonu ia. I tōna hokinga ki te wā kāinga ka whāki ia i tana matakite ki tana iwi ka whakahoki rātou, 'He matakite! He atua rā!'
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
New Zealand Electronic Text Collection
This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder. Some material from NZETC is made available under NZ Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike License (BY-SA)